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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Another writer circles the Astros like a vulture, looking for a gamey dinner

This time it's MASN.com's Phil Wood, who thinks that Michael Bourn would look good in whatever color the Nationals wear. But he sees a challenge:

Here's the rub: Bourn is a Houston native, and is one of Houston general manager Ed Wade's all-time favorite players. One of Wede's priorities upon taking the Astros' job was getting Bourn from his former employer, the Phillies. Desperate whatever struggles the Astros may encounter, it's believed that Bourn might be the last player he's willing to deal. The wild card might be that Bourn is represented by Scott Boras, who has a fairly solid relationship with the Nationals.

3 comments:

Terence
said...

Of the names that are starting to get thrown out, Bourn's makes more sense than most. We should be be able to get considerable value for him, it will save us from having to overpay for him, and it will allow us the opportunity to promote and play some of our AAA outfeild talent. Trading Myers or Wandy so we can start Figueroa more creates a serious drop-off in production. Trading Bourn so that we can play Bourgeois more is not as troublesome.

Agree 100%. Bourn, while a better player, is comparable to Wily T. If you take away his speed his game drops off significantly both offensively and defensively. I am more than happy to have Shuck roaming CF in the future than getting Boras to lock us in to Bourn's declining years.

Outfield is actually an area of strength in our upper minors, I say we take advantage of it.

I think the above comments seriously understate Bourn's value, and seriously overstate the strength of the OF prospects in the upper minors. Bourn is a world-class defensive CF. "if you take away his speed..." What? Yes, his value is very speed-based. And if took away Ted Williams' hitting ability, he wouldn't have been much of a player either.

From what I understand, the only viable CF prospect in the upper minors is Steele, who still has a lot to prove. Lower, you have Jay Austin, and maybe Austin Wates who could eventually be MLB CFers.

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